TedYazPapiMookie

Copied and pasted from a previous story and Pedroia was supposed to be the fourth name. Didn't notice I pulled the name from the other story. Good catch. The adjective "possibly" was not because he didn't qualify on ability, he was the last 20 years not 15.

Here is the problem with untouchable prospects. The data suggests truly untouchable prospects don't come along very often. Let's go back and count the untouchables in the last 15 years. My list would include Bogaerts, Betts, Devers and possibly Uehara. Guys like Benny were excellent but I put them next level as only tradeable for something we need desperately. Now lets fast forward to now. The current best player that was a prospect is Duran (comparable to Benny) who gets crapped on by large segments of the fan base. Is Anthony, Campbell and Mayer untouchable? I'd say absolutely not since none have shown a level of greatness comparable to Mookie or Bogey. Since Devers NEVER could field, he's borderline untouchable in my eyes. If there is just one that stands out in the current group that will be a perennial all-star it would be Anthony. Tolle hasn't played enough to even think he could be as good as Pedro or Clemens or even Lester. So, I have to disagree with the concept of untouchable for him BUT if traded he should bring in an all-star quality player.

If scouts are checking out Gallen and Kelly they should ONLY focus on Gallen. At 30, he's got good years left to extend him as part of the deal. Kelly would be a waste of prospects. If you are investing prospects the player needs to be extended as part of the deal. Gallen is an excellent addition especially if coupled with Edward Cabrera. The 2026 starting staff would look awesome with those two additions.

Interesting choice of 4 names. Cabrera is a given. Miami can get something of value for him but BOS needs to check his health carefully, so we don't end up with a Paxton type situation once we do the deal. He's an excellent long-term pitcher but if the deal is to help be successful in 2025, we need an extensive health check. Erceg is another excellent choice, and Abreu is the perfect trading partner for Erceg. Helsley is a great choice but I'm not sure why Chapman would be traded to acquire Helsley. To me, that makes no sense. I would add Helsley with Chapman if the team is to make a run in 2025 but I'm not sure we have anything we can offer for Helsley if Abreu goes to KC. Vazquez is a great suggestion IF he's forgiving the organization for how poorly Bloom handled the situation. He's a great back-up catcher and his love for Boston and the Red Sox was epic. I'm hoping it still is. Fun choice of 4. Nice out of the box thinking. I personally prefer adding Helsley and not trading Chapman if the team is to make the playoffs with their schedule.

Let's start with you using Webster. That suggests you are a very inexperienced person since you don't comprehend the difference between a standard dictionary and a baseball dictionary. If so, I will behave politely due to your lack of experience. So, besides the wrong choice of dictionary, you know what else you did that is embarrassing to you? You think by being part of the inexperienced collective on this website that I actually care about what a bunch of junior baseball fans think about ANY part of the game. I don't. In 20 years, when you better understand the game, the metrics, the difference between data and estimates, then please come back to me and apologize for your petulance. It's embarrassing. You don't know what you don't know and that's a common mistake of young people. Also, ANY TIME you want to put your knowledge of the GAME OF BASEBALL or YOUR EXPERIENCE IN BASEBALL against mine, please let me know. What a ridiculous claim by you. You have no idea who you are speaking with, but you are young enough to make anonymous claims of knowledge after I completely and transparently told my baseball story validating over 50 years of being involved in baseball and nearly 100 years of my family being involved in baseball. That's called pure ignorance on your part.

Cora can't figure it out. He needs to lead off Duran, than Rafaela bats 2nd, Anthony bats 3rd, Bregman bats 4th, Yoshida bats 5th, Story bats 6th, Narvaez bats 7th, Toro bats 8th and Gonzalez bats 9th. Anthony LF, Duran CF, Rafaela RF, Bregman 3B, Story SS, Gonzalez 2B, Toro 1B, Narvaez C and Yoshida DH. With Toro and Gonzalez playing to two weakest spots and Abreu's bat not fitting in at either position Cora has started doing foolish things forcing square pegs in round holes. While Duran belongs in CF, wasting Rafaela at 2B when he needs to be in RF next to Duran in CF to make our outfield one of the top ones defensively in all of baseball is just stupid by Cora and it's all because Abreu has NO PLACE to play that will help the team defensively except possibly LF for Anthony. If people are in love with Abreu play him at 1B or Yoshida at 1B and Abreu at DH since he's only acceptable against RH pitchers. Abreu is a huge problem for the Red Sox since he has no position. He's not as good as Rafaela in RF, or Duran in CF and if he's better than Anthony in LF then where does Anthony play? IB? What about next year? I just don't see why an inconsistent platoon hitter is that valuable to this offense other than his HRs. By month he's hit .295 in Mar/Apr, .212 in May, .271 in June, .256 in July. He's hit .225 vs LH pitchers and .262 vs RH pitchers. With 2 outs and a RISP he's hitting .139. He won a gold glove in RF despite finishing behind both Duran and Rafaela in the overall defensive metrics in 2024. He's not the best RF player on the team, he's not the best CF player on the team, he can't hit lefties and if his defense in LF is better than Anthony's does he replace him in LF? Absolutely not. Can he DH? Yes but Yoshida is a better hitter so why would he? Can he be a big power bat off the bench? Yes. Do we need Refsnyder then? Not really but that may be an issue during games he must play and a LH pitcher is starting. At best, Abreu can be depth but not an everyday starter unless he learns to play 1B and beats out Casas next year. That's why he should be part of any deal to get a SP because his value is highest right now and he has no place to play going forward since his bat is barely above league average and he's the 3rd best defender at the position he won his GG.

Interesting. A team that went to the World Series in 2023 has jumped it's payroll to $190 Million from $119 Million and now will drop back to $119 Million if they let all their 2026 FA go or trade them with a couple of months left before free agency. That's quite a predicament. They carried a $178 Million dollar payroll in 2024 after competing in the World Series and they are in a division with LAD, SDP and SFG who just spent $260Million over 8 years on Devers. You think they will let go all the FAs and not resign any of them? Their big price tickets seem grossly under rated on SPOTRAC. Gurriel is estimated as a FA to cost $16.8 Million. I think they could deal him and not look back. Naylor is estimated at $16 Million and that seems ridiculously low. I expect him to go for 50% more than that in Free Agency and if not then he's a great candidate for a trade for and extend so the 1B issues completely goes away. Gallen is listed at $11.7 Million and that seems absurdly low. If true, there is no way they should consider trading him. Actually, if they want to stay competitive in the NL West they should keep him and sign him long term. Suarez is listed at $12.3 Million which is also absurd. So, if I am ARI and want to prepare for 2026 with SPOTRAC estimates of future cost I would keep: Naylor at $16.0 Million Gallen at $11.7 Million Suarez at $12.3 Million That would add $40 Million to the already $119 Million for a starting point in 2026 of $159 Million. That would put the team $19 Million below the 2024 payroll and keep them competitive in the NL West. So I find it hard to believe that those three players will be dealt. That just leaves the following free agents and rostered players that could be dealt: 1 - Merrill Kelly 37 in 2026 with a career WAR of 16.6 in 7 years and is having an excellent 2025. Would we trade prospects for him? Would we consider extending him? 2 - Lourdes Gurriel 32 in 2026 with a career WAR of 12.8 in 8 years and has an OPS+ of 98 in 2025 With all our outfielders, he's not a candidate 3 - Eduardo Rodriguez 33 in 2026 with a price tag of $20 Million through 2028 We know him and he's not worth $20 Million but if I were them and wanted to cut the projected $159 Million when you include Naylor, Gallen and Suarez losing EROD would drop that number to a more reasonable $139 Million. In the end, I think many analysts have concluded will be sellers of their big three FAs at the end of the season and will consider the 5.5 games back in the wild card too much so they are sellers. I think they could be sellers but I find it hard to believe they will sell any of their big three FAs. Kelly, YES. The other 3, NO. BUT, if they do Boston could use all or any of them. Naylor solves the 1B issue, Gallen slots in nicely behind Crochet and Suarez's power at 1B or DH would be a huge win for Breslow, especially if he can sign them at the prices that SPOTRAC projects. The three FAs would make BOS the favorite to win the AL East in 2026. Also, the prices on SPOTRAC are correct the payroll would off-set the Devers money almost exactly. That would be a far better use of the $30 Million Breslow recovered in the Devers deal. What do you think?

Two excellent choices. Naylor I think will be expensive compared to Diaz because he was supposed to replace Christian Walker long term but ARI hasn't extended him so who knows. Yandy seems like a long-shot because it's TB giving BOS an advantage. I don't think they will do that but again, you never know. Cora has the outfielders all playing out of position so I might consider moving Anthony to 1B since Cora insists on playing Abreu in RF when Rafaela should be playing there because Duran is WAY better at CF than LF. Anthony should be in LF but I don't think Cora will ever figure it out so he might as well play 1B since his bat is needed as long as he keeps producing. I like the idea of loading up and trying for Nick Kurtz from OAK. He's got a huge upside. I think he might end up a better hitter than Anthony and he's huge but coordinated. Give OAK Abreu, Blaze Jordan to play 1B and a SS from the lower minors for Kurtz. It will pay dividends immediately.

People don't learn from history. Over the last several years since the new balanced schedule has been adopted this team has struggled terribly in August and September. Add the schedule's level of difficulty and no additional talent on the horizon and this team is heading toward a very ugly second half. Breslow needs to add talent if possible and if he can upgrade his manager that would help the most. Otherwise, we are looking at a near .500 team yet again. The good news is that with a Breslow manager next year not Cora, this team could win the Division with growth of the big 3 prospects, Duran, Rafaela, Bregman, Story and Narvaez. Yoshida needs to finally stay healthy and be a quality DH to round out the starters/regulars. This game today showed the weakness of the team. The Manager. You have a hot Duran batting leadoff but an even hotter Rafaela bats 8th rather than being rewarded for proving Cora wrong for dropping him in the order after the 2023 season. You have the chance to top end load the batting order with Duran, Rafaela, Anthony, Bregman, Mayer, Story, Abreu, Narvaez and Toro. Instead, Cora drops one of his hottest hitters so he can bring a cold hitter (Abreu) higher in the order. What an idiot. The mistakes never stop coming. Duran goes 1 for 2, Rafaela 1 for 4 (robbed of a double by umpire), Anthony 1 for 3, Bregman 1 for 4, Mayer 2 for 4, Story hitless, Abreu hitless, Narvaez hitless and Toro 1 for 4. Thanks to the bad batting order runs were missed out on and the team lost 4 to 1. Note the clustering of the hot hitters at the top of the order that has been suggested. ANY good manager could figure that out. That's why Cora didn't, yet again. Today's loss is on Cora for not setting the right batting order. This game along with Crochet's on Sunday were both winnable games. Now we need to hope the team can score runs on Sunday for Crochet. Cora costs the team at least one game a series against good teams.

Lots of crazy, panicked talk going on here. Santana sucks. He's ancient and picking up a .230 hitter at the deadline is insane. Thinking the Diamondbacks would give up on Naylor is highly unlikely except for the fact they haven't extended him already. They just got him to replace Walker long-term so dealing him would need to be with an extension for the player otherwise he could simply return to ARI and the prospects would be wasted. What are the REAL options? 1. Casas long-term. A guy who has only been in the MLB for roughly 1 2/3 seasons and his one full season showed he has decent hitting skills and league average fielding skills. His odd duck personality should have nothing to do with his performance, but many fans discount him because of it. The fickle nature of fans has pushed him out of the picture, but he is a viable choice going into 2026 that deserves another chance to prove himself to be the long-term solution. 2 Campbell. An unlikely candidate for 1B as a former SS forced into playing 2B and evaluated as an outfielder on a team knee deep in outfielders, this kid has a ton of talent and has proved it in the minors and the majors. He still has done better than both Mayer and Anthony through the number of games they have played and met with his FIRST adversity of his career and has been discarded by the average ignorant fan. Just like Duran and Rafaela were discarded by the fickle fan base, Campbell's track record speaks for itself, and the MLB sample size is incredibly small to be dismissing him. He has sufficient size and power to be a corner infielder despite his slight frame and speed but 1B may be a waste of his talent when Story moves on or fails to maintain his skills. His sentence in AAA should be almost up and when he returns, we'll see if anyone actually helped him make adjustments or it was a complete waste of time going to AAA. Will he be the third player who has been wasted due to a bad manager? (Duran, Rafaela and now Campbell) I believe he will be because he has more skills than most folks give him credit for just like Duran and Rafaela. 3 Toro or Gonzalez. Both players deserve credit for carrying the load at 1B in the first half and over performing to help Boston put up a decent record at the break. They both have faded as should be expected by players overachieving and both don't appear to be long-term solutions. Either could be a corner infield reserve in 2026 but they don't appear to be the future solution at 1B. 4 Nate Lowe After putting up a 11.2 WAR in 4 years in Texas he's struggled with WAS. The change in scenery did nothing for a guy used to being on a highly competitive team and going to a non-competitive team. Maybe his skills completely fell off the table or maybe he needs a team that is competitive. He is a cheap acquisition that could bounce back with BOS and help fill the hole at 1B in the second half. He's got 14 HRs in less than 100 games so he brings some pop. He's an arb 4 in 2026 so his price in going to be minimal if he does well in the second half due to his bad first half. 5 Josh Naylor By far the best solution but it's hard to believe ARI would want to part with him. The haul for him would need to be large. He had 31 HRs and 108 RBIs in CLE in 2024. Those are keeper numbers. He's in an adjustment season in ARI but he's a top 1B and if he could be stolen from ARI that would be quite the accomplishment by Breslow. With all the depth in BOS, the deal could include Casas, Abreu and two prospects if an extension is part of the deal. Otherwise, Breslow can get him in the off-season since he's a FA in 2026. The price with an extension could save money in the long run because he should be highly sought after in the off-season. Casas would not be needed if BOS gets Naylor and Abreu is a surplus player as well. The two prospects need to come from Mayer, Campbell and Anthony's positions making them surplus as well.

Three good choices. The 1B situation now has two fading players who have covered things far better than expected so far in 2025. I hope Breslow takes a chance and brings Campbell back up to play 1B so no prospects need to be traded for a 1B with Casas coming back next year. Campbell outplayed the other two top prospects for a longer time period and then faded due to the new book on him. Hopefully, he has made his adjustments to come back and rake again like in April. While Mayer seems to be having the same issue Campbell did after 40 games Anthony is still going strong after 31 games but is also behind Campbell's pace. Anthony at 31 games - .264/.371/.406/.777 Campbell at 31 games - .288/.389/.468/.858 EDGE CAMPBELL Mayer at 40 games - .224/.266/.414/.680 Campbell at 40 games - .233/.322/.387/.708 EDGE CAMPBELL As each of the three top prospects have experienced this season during different time periods but the game count allows one to evaluate and compare each player. Above, you can see that Campbell's start was by far the best of the three but both Anthony and Mayer can surpass Campbell's totals through 67 games by not fading as significantly as Campbell did when other teams got a book on him. Anthony has played less than half the games Campbell did and Mayer has played about 2/3rd as many games and has faded more quickly than Anthony in recent days. For all the Campbell haters, don't be shocked if after 67 games there isn't much difference between the three players. In the minors are an indication of their skills, then Anthony and Campbell should be close, and Mayer should be behind them.

The topic of the article was whether Rafaela should be playing 2B occasionally because an unqualified manager has had yet another brain cramp. The obvious answer is that it's one his dumbest ideas yet and that says a lot because you could fill the library of congress with his dumb ideas. Rafaela should start in RF the rest of his career since he and Duran are nearly comparable on defense and Rafaela has the far superior arm. The funny thing is that fans are so short-sighted with their viewpoints I can remember when some called for trading Rafaela and others supported batting him 9th. This kid is so good he will grow as a player and resemble Mookie Betts in that he'll hit for some power, he'll hit for average, he'll steal bases and could play SS full time given the chance to work at it prior to being moved to the new position. Very glad he didn't get traded!! Likewise on Duran who got made fun of initially when he had some mistakes learning CF in Fenway then provided elite defense in CF in 2024. The latest victim, Campbell, has maybe the highest upside potential of all three players and he's wasting his time in AAA learning 1B which he should never end up playing and 2B his second position so Mayer can be the SS after Story is gone. He deserves better so I hope for his sake he does get traded because it will probably take too long before Cora will be fired because Breslow is doing such a great job providing talent upgrades for Cora.

First, #1 choice is NOT available because the Diamondbacks are 5.5 games out of the last WC spot and ARI has not made the decision to sell but some writers chose to float the rumor without any documentation of someone from the front office stating it. Also, ARI traded an excellent prospect that is now starting for CLE and a draft pick to get Naylor when Christian Walker departed. They would be insane to trade him especially since Pavin Smith the logical trade bait is hurt. Second, Max Muncy plays 3 infield positions of 3B his normal position, 2B and 1B. He's a frequently injured player who has limited experience at 1B (2018 to 2021 most recently where he had very mixed performances leaving him average at best and well below average at worst). Since Bregman has 3B his next best spot would be DH and that helps NOBODY. Muncy is hitting .250 which is the highest average he's had since 2019 with a career average of .230. No team should be targeting an injury prone 34 year old 3B to play 1B who doesn't put the ball in play frequently with his .230 average and his average to below average glove at 1B. Third, Carlos Santana is a 1B unlike Muncy, he's 39 years old and hitting .232 in CLE so far this year. He has 11 HRS and an OPS+ of 93. The main reason he's playing in CLE is that their future star 1B is hitting .217 but his OPS+ is 102 vs his 98 the year before. Both 1Bs are terrible, hardly an upgrade from Campbell or Toro. So, if you believe the fake news about Naylor he becomes the best option, but it will be very expensive because he's an excellent player. He's a FA in 2026 projected to make over $16 Million a year. If BOS and ARI could agree to a deal, there would be no need for Casas since Naylor is a legitimate starting 1B on a top tier ballclub. Also, there would be no need for Campbell to keep wasting his time at 1B. If you want to get this guy it will take Casas, Campbell and something else but the deal would need to include an extension for Naylor. That would be a deal that could put BOS in the playoffs this year and significantly help the Diamondbacks by providing them with a future star in Campbell. It all comes down to whether the front office in ARI decides they want to sell and give up on this year's chances of making the playoffs.

Boston has 24 difficult games coming out of the All-Star break before they face a weak MIA club. CHC, PHI, LAD, MIN, HOU, KC, SD and HOU again. 8 three game series that will be significantly more difficult to win than their last 10 games versus WAS, COL, TB. The team has swept STL, NYY, WAS, COL and TB and been swept by DET, MIL and LAA. Losing Devers appears to have had no impact on the team but losing Bregman did. Going forward the team needs to stay healthy if they want to dream about a playoff spot. They also have to surprise several teams that are in the next 8 series so that by the end of August they are still in the running for a playoff spot. The good news is after the 8 series they have 5 winnable series versus MIA, BAL, NYY, BAL and PIT. Usually, the AL East eats BOS alive in AUG but if they can play like earlier in the season against NYY and BAL they have a chance to climb in the standings during the 5 series. Sept isn't terribly stacked either so if they can handle the AL East teams and break even with ARI, DET, OAK and CLE they have a shot at a playoff spot.

I completely trust that the two moderators believe that. No better reason than that for me to question it. He's a group think guy. That's ok, I have eliminated him so it won't be an issue going forward. I have no interest in entry level knowledge and frankly if I could eliminate you two moderators I would. Your contribution to me has been nothing but insults. I'm really only seeking knowledgeable baseball fans to discuss baseball with. I read the comments and just laugh at how it sounds like a discussion my sons would have had in grade school. And for the record if sk7326 was reasonable he wouldn't have to insult someone because he disagrees with him. It's called maturity and it's severely lacking in 12 people on this site. The good news is the rest of site seems to be filled with knowledgeable baseball people so I'm simply fencing off the minor league team and speaking only with the major league team. No insults and knowledgeable comments with be a refreshing change. Everyone can live happily in this space if they mind their own business and comment only in their click/club. Ironically, in most industries people would be more aware of the lack of experience and have greater understanding of all they don't know so the guy who is an apprentice mechanic wouldn't be crapping of the mechanic with 40- or 50-years' experience he would be seeking knowledge. Pick an industry where the minimally experienced people disrespect the experienced people. Sports seems to be the only industry where the latest generations seem to think they know more than the previous generations who have followed and played the game for decades. Sports fans from this generation lack hubris. They have no idea what they don't know but are willing to voice their narrow opinions as if they are all knowing. Discounting experience shows a huge lack of maturity.

Trading Campbell would be just as big of a mistake as trading Duran, Rafaela, Anthony, Bregman or Story would be right now. All are needed for the remainder of 2025. Abreu provides the most bang for the buck compared to the value he adds. Perfect sell high scenario. With all the SSs in the organization, Mayer is expendable too and carries more value than worth. Again, a perfect sell high scenario. The organization has been short-sighted with regard to Duran (3 years ago), Rafaela (last year) and Campbell (this year). If Campbell is forced to play 1B he will be critical in the second half as the two pretenders (Toro and Gonzalez) regress back to their normal performance level. You can already see them starting to trend down. If the current winning streak can reflect the future in 2025 that would be great but it's highly unlikely. Historically this team wins 5 in a row then loses 5 in a row and have flip-flopped on longer streaks as well. Let's hope a 10-game losing streak isn't in the cards like in the past. That would scramble the front office with respect to buying or selling. Afterall there are 8 teams within five losses of the Red Sox so even a short losing streak will create a lot of mixed emotions on a buy/sell decision. The rose-colored glasses are on everyone right now, but the typical reverse streak will change things very quickly. Fixing the SP3 and SP4 spots would be helpful but not at the cost of the above players listed as "don't trade". Relief help could be very helpful as well. Dumping Cora would do the most to improve the team. Any manager who plays the best defensive outfield in the wrong spot then suggests he's going to play 2B as well is a complete idiot and needs to go but that's nothing new, he's been consistently bad since he arrived. I believe in Breslow and I believe he will find the missing parts if the team comes out of the all-star break and DOES NOT go on an extended losing streak. He's done a great job so far and I expect the same going forward, especially if he can pick his own manager and significantly improve the organization.

Based on what you wrote, you aren't keeping up with the industry trends and clearly you don't understand the breakout of analytics. FYI... the Cora issue has been beaten to death. It's a fact. Go look up the documented interviews with Ownership after Farrell was fired. They specifically state they were going to address the diversity issue and then hired Cora within two weeks. For the record, your information is very weak, so I don't consider anything you write worthy of consideration. Call that a mutual insult since you can't seem to get through a comment without one. It's all part of the group think mentality of the website. An entire generation of fans that are clueless about the past and willing to insult anyone who doesn't agree with them. You should be so proud of yourselves!!! hahaha WOW

Trading Duran is a HUGE mistake. Swap out Abreu and I'm on board. I would trade Anthony for Skenes in a heartbeat. Skenes is far more valuable despite pitching every five days because Anthony has done nothing to suggest he would be a top 2 hitter in baseball. Pittsburgh would laugh in Boston's face if Breslow suggested it.

Rafaela came up in 2023 and was outstanding and never should have been demoted by Cora to the 9th spot in the order. Much like Duran when he got demoted by Cora it's taken Rafaela a year to recover from his demotion. I think this is his breakout year on offense and he's already one of the top defenders in the outfield in baseball. The next player that will need to recover from Cora's demotion is Campbell. I believe all three will end up being all-stars throughout their careers. We have seen pre-all-star game success in several of the recent years, and all ended with dismal Augusts and Septembers so we need to see if the matching cold streak will follow the hot streak they just finished like so many times before.

Breslow's choices will prove out over time but his approach to the draft was spot on. He restocked the farm system pitching with quality starters with shorter lead times to the majors. Precisely what we needed to build the weak side of the roster quicker and theoretically cheaper. Breslow deserves a 10 for his approach and hopefully his selections will warrant a 10 as well in a few years. I believe this draft was a huge step forward for the Red Sox.

Not true. It's just an exceptionally large gap in maturity. Your insults are non-stop. And then you play the condescension card simply because I know light years more about baseball than you. That's what happens when you have 30 to 50 more years in the game than the other person. It's called experience not condescension. This will all stop when you stop the cheat shots. It's really that simple because I don't care about your opinions on topics you don't grasp but think you do because inexperience provides that misconception of your knowledge. In 30 years, all this will make sense to you but right now you are simply a part of an entitled generation that believes they know more despite the huge difference in experience. The concept of respect related to experience is non-existent in your generation which is why I simply want to discuss baseball with people have a similar level of experience and you should do the same. I just ask that you stop brow beating me to conform to your inexperienced beliefs. Freedom of thought is an important concept in this country. Please extend me that courtesy as one of the commandants of this website

So Jad gives you an opinion you don't like so you insult him? Thanks for proving my point. Why not just let Jad have his opinion without the dig? You are a moderator. That should not be a synonym for chief insulter. Chill and let people say what they think without brow beating them. Jad, I agree with you.

Well said. If people don't agree with an opinion, they should be mature enough to either not respond or do it politely. That's not been my experience so I gravitate to the more mature participants that can discuss things as adults and let the insulting, immature group go off by themselves and discuss the topics that have absolutely no merit to me. Thanks for your comment.

I know but I have forgiven you. Please stop harassing me and things should work out great. Too many good guys on the site to give it up because I am being harassed by a moderator. I will ask nicely once again for you to simply lay off the insults and if you want to push your beliefs on people please do it elsewhere.

Recommended players Bremner and Arnold went 2nd and 11th; Steele Hall went 9th so they weren't available. LaViolette dropped to 27th and could have been taken at 15 but not 33, Hammond went 28th so he too could have been at 15 but not 33, Since we needed College Pitching, things seem to have worked out well. Quentin Young went 54th and could have been taken at 15th or 33rd. Jack Bauer told teams he was committed to Mississippi State where coach Brian O'Connor had landed after leaving Virginia, so he was NOT drafted. It will be fun to see how well Breslow did in this draft. Witherspoon was a solid pick that dropped significantly from 7 to 15 similar to Mayer's smaller drop to 4th when Bloom got him. Let's hope the drop wasn't justified. Checking Witherspoon's history shows him ranked 500 by Perfect Game in 2022 and he was considered a SS not a pitcher as his primary skill. In 2023 he played in a Florida Collegiate Summer League but only played ONE game and he threw 3.1 innings and gave up 2 hits, 3 walks and 3 earned runs while striking out six. None of that is impressive BUT in 2024 things began to click. In 2024, last year, he played for Oklahoma University and started 11 games with 3.71 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP due to walking 4.5 per 9 IP. His 90/40 K/BB rate was good for his 80 IP except the BBs needed to improve. He played for Chatham in the Cape Code League in 2024 but only pitched in two games for 9 total innings but did well. He gave up 8 hits and NO WALKS which was a huge improvement and struck out 10 batters. This year at Oklahoma he got 16 starts with a 2.65 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. He struck out 124 in 95 innings while only walking 23 and hitting 10. That was good for a 10-win season so he's come a very long way since 2022. Hopefully he'll stay on the steep upward trajectory. Marcus Phillips was the #2 Starter behind Doyle at Tennessee. His history is short but very solid. A South Dakota born SP who played limited seasons up north in HS then went to a JC in Iowa before ending up at Tennessee for his 2024 and 2025 seasons. Advanced SPs from college is what we needed and what we got so that's good. Now we need to hope Breslow chose well.